Light Switch?

[hndblt]

Guys,

Anyone have one of these? When i press the front panel the lights in my garage shut off until I let it go. I am assuming this is the source of my LED flickering issues. It seems as if there are no screws holding this on either, not sure how to look inside. Any thoughts?

Thanks

Geoff

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Probably held onto the wall with paint.

Score around the edge and see if it comes off.

 

[AntonLargiader]

Beats me. Looks like some '70s device to let you close the garage door by bumping it with your hip when holding an armload of groceries. What does its location suggest about the intended function?

It kind of looks like it's plugged into (and covering) a receptacle. What's the tab on the top?

 

[Stadger]

If it were me I'd flip the breaker and pry that front cover off.

 

[Shiftless]

If it were me I'd flip the breaker and pry that front cover off.

to that
I'd go a bit further and just yank the whole thing out and start over with the 2 wires coming out of the box. wylie's excellent suggestion of scoring around the plate will minimize painted wall damage. Put in a standard switch either toggle or Decora with a new cover plate. Mysterious electrical is not good.

 

[rburke65]

Well m 68 yo and from '71 to '81 I rewired houses and lots of other wiring projects. A thousand side jobs.....I have never seen anything like this. Curious now......

 

[justsam]

Guys,

Anyone have one of these? When i press the front panel the lights in my garage shut off until I let it go. I am assuming this is the source of my LED flickering issues. It seems as if there are no screws holding this on either, not sure how to look inside. Any thoughts?

Thanks

Geoff

So if this only turns them off when pressed, how do you normally turn the lights ON and OFF?

If I am understanding you correctly this sounds like a NC (normally closed) switch that is wired in series with your normal light switch. If it has been passing the current required for past incandescent lighting I suspect it is not the LED issue.

It does look a bit like some vintage BSR X-10 device, that perhaps is using some solid state switching device the LED's do not like.

I agree with other posted solutions, remove it, wire the circuit thru as required and put a cover plate on it.

 

[landlord30]

So if this only turns them off when pressed, how do you normally turn the lights ON and OFF?

Plug in the toaster and push the handle down?

 

[Shiftless]

So there are 2 switches in series????

 

[doan]

I had one of those in the 90's. It's a switch that can be operated by pushing the button (front cover) or from a garage door opener remote control. Sears used to sell them as an add on. You could could use it to control other lights with your garage door remote.

Pop the front cover off to access the screws.

 

[hndblt]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

So to answer some of your questions there is another switch for the garage light but just one. There was originally just one light in the center of the garage that had a 2 outlet socket adapter. I have since replaced the old light bulb in the center with a LED and then picked up 2 Costco LED shop lights and plugged them into the adapter. At this point the shop lights flicker and then it dawned on me that the weird light switch still exists.

I will remove the switch tonight and see what I find, of course this means I will have to shut off some part of the house as you can imagine the wiring is all screwed up in this house. When I moved in about 3 years ago I had to have the main service replaced and condensed but there are still plugs/switches that don't work or go no where. I will follow up tonight.

Also that picture is tilted 90 degrees, so tall portion goes up and down. The tab on the side you see is also comes out the other end and are labeled on and off. So if it is off you cant move the button or face of the box.

 

[justsam]

I had one of those in the 90's. It's a switch that can be operated by pushing the button (front cover) or from a garage door opener remote control. Sears used to sell them as an add on. You could could use it to control other lights with your garage door remote.

Pop the front cover off to access the screws.

Makes sense. I have never seen one!
Was it pretty much a stand alone device or did it require being connected to garage door opener in some way? If no connection to opener, than it would need to have it's own receiver inside that box. Easy with today's electronics, not so much with vintage stuff.

Sounds like this one is not wired properly because I would expect pushing the front button or using the remote, the lights should latch ON for a designated period. Sounds like this one is turning them OFF.

 

[hndblt]

I had one of those in the 90's. It's a switch that can be operated by pushing the button (front cover) or from a garage door opener remote control. Sears used to sell them as an add on. You could could use it to control other lights with your garage door remote.

Pop the front cover off to access the screws.

Doan - You were spot on, it does appear that it can operate from a remote control it just doesn't work. I am assuming that when new garage doors motors were installed this no longer worked.

I will take it out this weekend and see if that fixes the LED issue.

Geoff

 

[homemade1487]

That looks really slick. Push the garage door opener to open the garage door when pulling into the driveway and it turns on all or some of the lights in the garage instead of/ including the two dinky lights built into the opener. I bet this was invented before the small lights on the opener itself was popular. I always wanted something like this for when we back our fire trucks in the station. After a practice and the lights are off, it's always a dark hole to back into.


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[dave*99]

It does say incandescent lighting only on the strap........so perhaps it is the source of your flickering LED's.